1. Field of Invention
This invention relates generally to hand carriers for bottles and other items, and more particularly to a collapsible hand carrier adapted to protectively accommodate a group of bottles of standard size, the carrier also being convertible into an all-purpose tote or shopping bag.
2. State of the Art
The conventional shopping or tote bag is provided with handles and is formed of kraft paper, plastic film or fabric material of sufficient strength to support the load for which it is intended without rupturing the bag material.
Thus should a consumer purchase in a supermarket or other retail establishment an assortment of items including canned goods, bottled beverages and groceries, these can all be stuffed into the shopping bag. In the case of liquid-filled bottles made of glass, these give rise to a problem; for should the bottles in the bag be jostled, they may crack. And if a cracked bottle contains carbonated beverage such as beer or a soft drink, the resultant abrupt release of internal pressure may result in an explosion with possibly serious consequences.
In order to protectively package beer bottles of pint size, it is now the practice to provide a so-called six-pack. In this pack, half a dozen bottles are individually housed in the cells of a multi-cellular cardboard carrier having a handle, the cells maintaining a separation between the bottles to avoid jostling. But should a consumer desire to purchase an assortment of bottled beverages in standard quart or liter sizes, these are normally not pre-packaged and therefore remain unprotected when placed in a conventional shopping bag.
Thus, if one buys, say, two bottles of club soda, a bottle of tonic water and three bottles of ginger ale, all having the same standard size, the usual shopping or tote bag is ill-suited for this heavy load, particularly if it is of kraft paper construction. Hence if an empty carton is available in the supermarket, the purchaser may use this as an improvised carrier for his bottles, even though the carton lacks handles and is difficult to carry. From the marketing standpoint, any item which is difficult to carry home is less likely to be sold than one which presents no handling problem.
Moreover, the consumer is not only faced with the problem of carrying a load of full bottles from the supermarket to his home or elsewhere, for in recent years he also is confronted with the problem of returning empty bottles. Many states have introduced, by statute, bottle deposit requirements, and the consumer, in order to recover his 5-cent deposit per bottle or whatever other amount is imposed, must return the empty bottles to the store. The stated economic and environmental purpose underlying this statutory requirement is to encourage consumers to return empty bottles for recycling and to avoid litter resulting from discarded bottles. This makes it necessary for the consumer to make use of a carrier or bag of some sort to perform the return function. The conventional shopping or tote bag is no better suited for this purpose than for carrying full bottles.
The prior art discloses various forms of hand carriers specifically designed for bottles. Thus the Gilbert Pat. No. 4,250,992 shows a bottle carrier fabricated from corrugated board to form a tray having a center handle which divides the tray into two compartments, each loosely holding three bottles. This tray is not collapsible, nor does it protect loose bottles in each compartment from jostling against each other.
The Lipton Pat. No. 2,351,528 discloses a bottle carrier having bendable flaps to define bottle compartments. But the flaps are unsupported and the carrier is not collapsible. The Wood et al. Pat. No. 4,089,457 and the Thurmer Pat. No. 1,983,418 each provide an insert for cartons which acts to divide the carton into bottle-holding cells. Also of background interest are the Pergande et al. Pat. No. 4,397,393 and the British Pat. Nos. 683,205 (1949) and 560,830 (1944), though none of the references discloses collapsible carriers.